Universities win big grant for ‘green’ research
Portland Press Herald - 7/14/2009.By John Richardson – The University of Maine and University of Southern Maine are launching a broad new education and research effort to create a greener society. The schools have received a $20 million, five-year federal grant to create the Sustainability Solution Initiative, which will be based at UMaine in Orono. The funding will pay for new faculty positions, research projects and a variety of academic courses focused on understanding environmental threats and how to make the transition to a more sustainable society. |
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Crops, ponds destroyed in quest for food safety
Common Dreams - 7/13/2009. By Carolyn Lochhead – Dick Peixoto planted hedges of fennel and flowering cilantro around his organic vegetable fields in the Pajaro Valley near Watsonville to harbor beneficial insects, an alternative to pesticides. He has since ripped out such plants in the name of food safety, because his big customers demand sterile buffers around his crops. No vegetation. No water. No wildlife of any kind. |
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Sun’s out: time to make hay
Kennebec Journal - 7/13/2009. By Betty Adams – WINDSOR -- Mike Richardson took advantage of the dry weather Friday to cut the first hay of the season. His daughter, Ashley Richardson, a sophomore at the University of Maine, pulled a tedder through the fields, flipping the mown hay. By Sunday, the Richardsons had put up 400 bales, less than half the usual production for this time of year. The slowdown, he says, is directly attributable to the wet weather. |
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Is there Bisphenol A in your home canning?
TreeHugger - 7/13/2009. By Lloyd Alter – We recently reported that the endocrine disruptor Bisphenol A (BPA) was found in organic baby food packed in glass jars, apparently from the lining of the metal lid. (see Bisphenol A Found in Baby Food in Glass Jars) I wondered: could all of our delicious home-made preserves be contaminated too? The inside of the lids have a white finish; could this be made with bisphenol A? It turns out that it is. |
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